There is provided a piston of a cartridge for extracting nucleic acids comprising: a cylindrical upper body having a hollow; a lower body having two ports; a control rod module combined to the other end of the upper body to seal the other end and move up and down along the hollow; and a rotation control module that is combined to the shaft of the lower body to transmit a driving force to the lower body.

A field apparatus (also referred to as a “biosampler”) is configured to automatically capture multiple samples of an aqueous medium (for example, water from a lake) and process same to preserve unstable analytes in the field. In this way, a set of samples from the aqueous medium can, for example, be captured at multiple points in time, processed with a biopreservative to preserve unstable analytes (for example, RNA) and then later collected for further analysis. Alternatively, multiple samples of the aqueous medium can be collected and preserved at one moment.

The present invention addresses to a method for analyzing and detecting solids in emulsions, oil and derivatives thereof even in the presence of high contents of water (>5% v/v), which is based on the absorption and scattering of light by solids suspended in solution.

The application of the method of this invention contributes to greater reliability in terms of control of BSW (oil quality) and OGC (water to be treated and discarded). Additionally, there is the possibility of controlling the dosage of products such as scale inhibitors and naphthenates inhibitors, optimizing the dosage and minimizing operational occurrences associated with the formation of deposits. These eventually lead to equipment clogging throughout the process.

A water quality management method for performing at least one of a quantitative analysis and a qualitative analysis of fine particles contained in water to be analyzed that includes connecting a filtration device provided with a fine particle capturing membrane for capturing fine particles to a flow pipe through which the water to be analyzed flows, allowing the water to be analyzed to flow from the flow pipe and through the fine particle capturing membrane attached to the filtration device for a predetermined period of time to capture fine particles contained in the water to be analyzed to form a fine particle capturing membrane sample, and performing at least one of a quantitative analysis and a qualitative analysis of the fine particle capturing membrane sample of a target water flow period at an arbitrary timing.

The present invention provides a technique for estimating a bacterial concentration from a sample in which bacteria and impurities are mixed, and adjusting the bacterial concentration in the sample to a desired value. An automatic analyzer according to the present invention introduces a substance that destroys impurities into a sample in which bacteria and the impurities are mixed, separates the destroyed impurities and the bacteria, and then takes out the bacteria by a filter, and estimates the concentration of bacteria in the sample according to correspondence data between the amount of impurities remaining on the filter and the concentration of bacteria in the sample.

An automatic filter changer that automatically inserts and removes a filter from a fluidic path. Filters are introduced into the automatic filter changer in stacks. The lead filter and each stack is removed from its respective stack one by one by a filter separator. The separated filters are deposited onto a shuttle plate which moves the filters into their respective fluidic paths. Fluid couplers connect to each filter to complete their respective fluidic paths and allow fluids to be filtered before sampling. Once collection of the samples is complete, the filters are removed from the fluidic path and discarded or saved for reuse. The shuttle path is returned to its original position to receive new filters to repeat the process again. A graphic user interface is provided to allow the user to program a specific set of instructions to automate the entire process.

An automated active clay analyzer apparatus for analyzing active clays in a mineral slurry in a vessel or passing through a conduit, comprising a controller operable to manage the operations associated with the apparatus; an automatic sampler coupled to the vessel or conduit and operable to extract a sample of a determined volume of the slurry from the vessel or conduit, the automatic sampler being under control of the controller; at least one fluid delivery device under control of the controller and operable to deliver a known volume of water and a known volume of cationic dye into the sample; a mixing chamber that receives the sample; an agitator operable to agitate the sample, the water and the cationic dye in the mixing chamber to produce a diluted sample mixture; an automatic filter operable to filter the diluted sample mixture to produce a filtrate; and a spectrophotometer having an optical flow cell that receives the filtrate from the automatic filter and is operable to measure a spectra absorbance of the filtrate in the optical flow cell using at least one wavelength to obtain spectra absorbance data of the filtrate that may be used to control the processing of the mineral slurry or other aspects of a mineral processing operation related to the mineral slurry in near real time.

A solvent reservoir filter for a liquid chromatograph system includes a first screen extending in a first plane, the first screen configured to filter solvent received through the first screen, a second screen extending in a second plane that is parallel to the first plane, the second screen configured to filter solvent received through the second screen, a main body extending between and connecting the first screen and the second screen, and a fluid outlet configured to expel solvent filtered by the first and second screens from the solvent reservoir filter. Methods of use and assembly of the solvent reservoir filter for a liquid chromatograph system are further disclosed.

The invention provides columns (including pipette tip columns) and automated methods for the purification of nucleic acids including plasmids. Nucleic acids can be purified from unclarified, clarified or partially-clarified cell lysates that contain cell debris. The columns typically include a bed of medium positioned above a bottom frit and with an optional top frit. Plasmid preparation scales include miniprep, midiprep, maxiprep, megaprep and gigaprep.

A filtration system for a liquid comprising a container (2) having an internal container volume (11), a particulate filter portion (10) for allowing passage of the liquid into the internal container volume (11) to forma liquid sample aliquot and a first opening (14) providing access to the internal container volume (11); the filtration system further comprising a non-porous housing (4) configured to provide an internal space (28) for receiving the container (2), the internal space (28) being dimensioned to provide a volume such that the amount left unoccupied by the received container (2) is less than the internal container volume (11).